2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

cowboymum

Can I join as well? I have watched this thread with interest over the last few years but never actually joined.

I like knitting and sewing but have done very little over the last year. Hoping this year I can complete some projects.

Currently darning lots of cashmere jumpers for my friend - was darning wool rationed in the same way as wool? 

PollyWollyDoodle

Wow, lovely to see so many new joiners, we’ll have to get some more folding chairs out of the cupboard. 

@cowboymum mending wool was specifically excluded from rationing, darning is encouraged so carry on!  

LLM2018

Hello, I have a question so was wondering if you could advise; how many coupons would a fat quarter of fabric be please?

LLM

Liverpool_Anne

@LLM2018, I think it would be half a coupon as it is 2 coupons per metre. I seem to remember deducting 2.5 coupons for bundle of 5 but I am sure Pip will correct me if I am wrong

PipneyJane

Good morning @Liverpool_Anne.  You were up late!  Couldn’t sleep?  Or were there air-raids over your side of the village?

Anne’s right, @LLM2018.  A fat quarter is a quarter of a metre so half a coupon.

Welcome @cowboymum.  As Polly said, darning wool is specifically mentioned as being coupon free.

Does everyone have enough tea?  I’ll make a fresh pot.

- Pip

PipneyJane

Good morning @Liverpool_Anne.  You were up late!  Couldn’t sleep?  Or were there air-raids over your side of the village?

Anne’s right, @LLM2018.  A fat quarter is a quarter of a metre so half a coupon.

Welcome @cowboymum.  As Polly said, darning wool is specifically mentioned as being coupon free.

Does everyone have enough tea?  I’ll make a fresh pot.

- Pip

Madbat60

Morning all
I'd like to join.  I'm a bad knitter who'd like to get better.  I have a stash of wool needs using up and a half finished jumper.  I make a lot of my clothes, some of them are really good.  I'm self-taught.  I find trousrs tricky but i will persevere.  Plans for next year is to conquer my overlocker.  It terrifies me.  

Liverpool_Anne

@PipneyJane, oh I have a terrible sleep pattern and often find myself awake in the small hours . I read an article about sleep the other day which said our natural sleep pattern pre industrialisation and use of artificial light was to go to bed about 9 but to wake up about midnight for a couple of hours and then to have a second sleep. In various sleep studies when people have been deprived of artificial light they have reverted to this pattern so I like to think I am just reverting to that but the truth is ever since I worked shifts at a previous job over 35 years ago my sleep pattern has been wrecked so when I find myself awake I just do something that is not too taxing until I feel tired enough to go back to sleep. Having said that I have been known to go out shopping at 4am or tackle the ironing in the middle of the night but usually I just read something I usually manage at least 6 hours but I know I can get by on 4 hours for several days before I crash though it is something I keep trying to sort out I think I would have coped reasonably well with the bombing raids disturbing my sleep which were quite heavy in this part of the country, the evidence can still be seen in the city with the gaps in the older property being filled in with newer buildings and the landmark of the "bombed out church" kept as a memorial in the city. Sorry rambling
Take care everyone 

thriftwizard

Morning all! Slipping off the back of my lorry to request to join in again for this year, please! I've brought some leftover mince pies... are we carrying unspent coupons forwards, or is it a clean slate this year? One of my main resolutions is to use up stash  (fleece, yarn and fabric) rather than buy new (which may also have the effect of reducing clutter in my sewing room) and the other is to sort my wardrobe out - it doesn't matter that hardly any of it has been bought new, there are things in there that just don't "fit" and don't get used, and I can't get anything else into the drawers because of them!

PollyWollyDoodle

@Madbat60 I really recommend this book The Overlocker Technique Manual: The complete guide to serging and decorative stitching https://amzn.eu/d/awXNRjj

The other thing to do is just get your overlook out and practice, practice. Everybody complains about threading it, I don’t find that such a problem although it’s fiddly, but I don’t fully understand things like tension. The book has really good examples in.  I’m by no means an expert, but having an overlocker does open up different things you can do (although quite often a machine zigzag will do the job). 

I believe that @thriftwizard is a bit of an expert user?